MLA and APA Writing Guide

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by  Media & Technology

MLA and APA Writing Guide
Table of Contents

MLA Formatting

In-Text Citations………………………………………………………………… …1 – 5

Quotations……………………………………………………………..…………… 5 – 8

Endnotes & Footnotes…………………………………………………………......6 – 7

Work Cited Page: Basic Format…………….………………..……….……...…. 8 – 9

Work Cited: Books……………………………..……………………….……...…..9 -16

Work Cited: Periodicals…………………………………………………………16 – 19

Work Cited: Electronic Sources………………………………………..……....19 – 27

Work Cited: Other Non-Print Sources………………………………..…….....27 – 29

Abbreviations in MLA…………………………………………………….….…..29 – 31

Work Cited: Other Print Sources……………………………………………....31 – 34

MLA Works Cited Example Page…………………………………….………..34 – 36
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APA Formatting

General APA Guidelines……………………….………………………….……36 – 38

In-Text Citations: The Basics…………….…………………………………….38 – 40

In-Text Citations: Author/Authors………….…………………………………..40 – 42

Citing Indirect Sources…………………………….………………………………….42

Electronic Sources……………………………….……………………………...42 – 43

Footnotes and Endnotes………………………….………………………...…..43 – 44

Reference List: Basic Rules…………………….………………………………44 – 45

Reference List: Author/Authors…………………………….…………………..45 – 47
Reference List: Articles in Periodicals…………………………..………….….47 – 48

Reference List: Books………………………………………………….………..49 – 50

Reference List: Other Print Sources………………………………….………..50 – 51

Reference List: Electronic Sources………………………………….…………51 – 54

Reference List: Other Non-Print Sources……………………………………..54 – 56

Types of APA Papers……………………………………………………………56 – 57

APA Stylistics: Avoiding Bias…………………………………………………...57 – 59

APA Stylistics: Basics. ………………………………………………………….59 – 61

APA Headings……………………………………………………………………61 – 65
MLA Formatting
In-Text Citations: The Basics
Guidelines for referring to the works of others in your text using MLA style is
covered in chapter six of the MLA Handbook and in chapter seven of the MLA
Style Manual. Both books provide extensive examples, so it's a good idea to
consult them if you want to become even more familiar with MLA guidelines or if
you have a particular reference question.
Basic In-Text Citation Rules
In MLA style, referring to the works of others in your text is done by using what's
known as parenthetical citation. Immediately following a quotation from a source
or a paraphrase of a source's ideas, you place the author's name followed by a
space and the relevant page number(s).
Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).
When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of
an author name. Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work, or italicize
or underline it if it's a longer work.
Your in-text citation will correspond with an entry in your Works Cited page,
which, for the Burke citation above, will look something like this:
Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature,
and Method. Berkeley: U of California P, 1966.
We'll learn how to make a Works Cited page in a bit, but right now it's important
to know that parenthetical citations and Works Cited pages allow readers to know
which sources you consulted in writing your essay, so that they can either verify
your interpretation of the sources or use them in their own scholarly work.
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Multiple Citations
To cite multiple sources in the same parenthetical reference, separate the
citations by a semi-colon:
...as has been discussed elsewhere (Burke 3; Dewey 21).
When Citation is not Needed
Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting
sources. You do not need to give sources for familiar proverbs, well-known
quotations or common knowledge. Remember, this is a rhetorical choice, based
on audience. If you're writing for an expert audience of a scholarly journal, they'll
have different expectations of what constitutes common knowledge.

In-Text Citations: Author-Page Style
MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that
the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or
paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should
appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the
sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the
page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your
sentence. For example:
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous
overflow of powerful feelings" (263).
Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings" (Wordsworth 263).
Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative
process (263).
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The citation, both (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tells readers that the information
in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named
Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to
the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find
the following information:
Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. London: Oxford U.P., 1967.
Author-Page Citation for Classic and Literary Works with Multiple
Editions
Page numbers are always required, but additional citation information can help
literary scholars, who may have a different edition of a classic work like Marx and
Engels's The Communist Manifesto. In such cases, give the page number of your
edition (making sure the edition is listed in your Works Cited page, of course)
followed by a semicolon, and then the appropriate abbreviations for volume
(vol.), book (bk.), part (pt.), chapter (ch.), section (sec.), paragraph (par.) as
available. For example:
Marx and Engels described human history as marked by class struggles (79;
ch. 1).
Anonymous Work/Author Unknown
If the work you are citing to has no author, use an abbreviated version of the
work's title. (For non-print sources, such as films, TV series, pictures, or other
media, or electronic sources, include the name that begins the entry in the Works
Cited page). For example:
An anonymous Wordsworth critic once argued that his poems were too
emotional ("Wordsworth Is a Loser" 100).
Citing Authors with Same Last Names
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Sometimes more information is necessary to identify the source from which a
quotation is taken. For instance, if two or more authors have the same last name,
provide both authors' first initials (or even the authors' full name if different
authors share initials) in your citation. For example:
Although some medical ethicists claim that cloning will lead to designer
children (R. Miller 12), others note that the advantages for medical
research outweigh this consideration (A. Miller 46).
Citing Multiple Works by the Same Author
If you cite more than one work by a particular author, include a shortened title for
the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the others.
Lightenor has argued that computers are not useful tools for small
children ("Too Soon" 38), though he has acknowledged elsewhere that early
exposure to computer games does lead to better small motor skill
development in a child's second and third year ("Hand-Eye Development"
17).
Additionally, if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence, you would
format your citation with the author's name followed by a comma, followed by a
shortened title of the work, followed, when appropriate, by page numbers:
Visual studies, because it is such a new discipline, may be "too easy"
(Elkins, "Visual Studies" 63).
Citing Indirect Sources
Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a
source cited in another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to
indicate the source you actually consulted. For example:
Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as "social service
centers, and they don't do that well" (qtd. in Weisman 259).
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Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original
source, rather than citing an indirect source.
Citing the Bible
In your first parenthetical citation, you want to make clear which Bible you're
using (and underline or italicize the title), as each version varies in its translation,
followed by book (do not italicize or underline), chapter and verse. For example:
Ezekiel saw "what seemed to be four living creatures," each with faces of
a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle (New Jerusalem Bible, Ezek. 1.5-10).
All future references can then just cite book, chapter, and verse, since you've
established which edition of the Bible you will be using.
Formatting Quotations
When you directly quote the works of others in your paper, you will format
quotations differently depending on their length. Formatting quotations using
MLA style is covered in section 2.7 of the of the MLA Handbook (which begins on
page 80) and in section 3.9 of the MLA Style Manual (which begins on page
102). Below are some basic guidelines for incorporating quotations into your
paper.
Short Quotations
To indicate short quotations (fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of
verse) in your text, enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide
the author and specific page citation (in the case of verse, provide line numbers)
in the text, and include a complete reference on the Works Cited page.
Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear
after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should
appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage but
after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text. For example:
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According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality"
(Foulkes 184), though others disagree.
According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of
personality" (184).
Is it possible that dreams may express "profound aspects of personality"
(Foulkes 184)?
Mark breaks in short quotations of verse with a slash, /, at the end of each line of
verse: (a space should precede and follow the slash)
Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all I
remember" (11-12).
Long Quotations
Place quotations longer than four typed lines in a free-standing block of text, and
omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote
indented one inch from the left margin; maintain double-spacing. Only indent the
first line of the quotation by a half inch if you are citing multiple paragraphs. Your
parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. When
quoting verse, maintain original line breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing
throughout your essay.) For example:
Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her
narration:
They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even
in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the
landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the
morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice,
it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on
quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got
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there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my
cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte
78)
Poetry will be handled something like this:
In her poem "Sources," Adrienne Rich explores the roles of women in
shaping their world:
The faithful drudging child
the child at the oak desk whose penmanship,
hard work, style will win her prizes
becomes the woman with a mission, not to win prizes
but to change the laws of history. (23)
Adding or Omitting Words In Quotations
If you add a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the
words to indicate that they are not part of the original text.
Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, states: "some
individuals [who retell urban legends] make a point of learning every
rumor or tale" (78).
If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted
word or words by using ellipsis marks, which are three periods (...) preceded and
followed by a space. For example:
In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some
individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor or tale ... and
in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs" (78).
NOTE: According to the 6th Edition of the MLA Handbook, brackets are no
longer needed around ellipses unless adding brackets would clarify your use of
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ellipses. For example, if there are ellipsis marks in the quoted author's work, do
not put brackets around them; but do use brackets around ellipsis marks you
add, so as to distinguish them from ellipsis marks in the quoted author's work.
Also note that the MLA Style Guide still requires brackets, so it's probably best
practice to follow the MLA manual appropriate to your assignment or publication.

Footnotes and Endnotes
Because long explanatory notes can be distracting to readers, most academic
style guidelines (including MLA and APA) recommend limited use of
footnotes/endnotes; however, certain publishers encourage or require note
references in lieu of parenthetical references (see the MLA Handbook, Appendix
B, and the MLA Style Manual, Appendix A, for other systems of MLA citation).
MLA discourages extensive use of explanatory or digressive notes. MLA style
does, however, allow you to use endnotes or footnotes for evaluative
bibliographic comments, for example:
1 See Blackmur, especially chapters three and four, for an insightful
analysis of this trend.
2 On the problems related to repressed memory recovery, see Wollens pp.
120-35; for a contrasting view, see Pyle.
You can also use endnotes or footnotes for occasional explanatory notes or other
brief additional helpful information that might be too digressive for the main text:
3 In a 1998 interview, she reiterated this point even more strongly: "I
am an artist, not a politician!" (Weller 124).
Numbering Endnotes and Footnotes
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